WASHINGTON -Researchers unveiled an unprecedented effort Monday to map the genetic changes of common pediatric cancers to learn more about the underpinnings of the diseases, which could lead to new and better treatments.
Specifically, researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis embarked on a three-year, $65 million effort to decode the genomes of more than 600 cancer patients. The effort is being paid for with private funds including $20 million from Kay Jewelers, which is part of Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG).
Cancer cells will be compared to normal cells taken from the same patient to find changes that occurred in the cancer cell that didn't occur in the normal cell.
Cancer is triggered by changes or mutations in the DNA of normal cells.
Dr. Larry Shapiro, dean of Washington University's school of medicine, explained that each cell contains more than 20,000 genes. The cells also contain about 3 billion nucleotides or molecules that make up the DNA inside the cells.
Until recently, it was impossible for researchers to look at all of the parts of a cell.
"For the first time in history we have the tools to identify all of the genetic abnormalities that turn a white blood cell into leukemia or a brain cell into brain cancer," said Dr. William Evans, St. Jude's director. St. Jude specializes in treating children with cancer.
Last September, the National Institutes of Health announced plans to map the most 20 common types of adult cancer.
Dr. Francis Collins, the head of NIH, said the pediatric cancer-research program will be complementary to the adult cancer-mapping effort.
"This is going to be the most significant set of data we can imagine in pediatric cancer," Collins said, adding that it "will provide new targets for treatments."
Evans explained that children's cancer likely differs significantly from adult cancer. For example, children typically get one form of leukemia, or cancer of the blood, while another type is more common in adults.
Although childhood cancer is relatively rare, with about 18,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the U.S., it's still the leading cause of death among children age 1 and older.
Richard Wilson, director of Washington University's Genome Center, said computer analyses will be conducted on cancer cells to "find needles in the haystack that are absent" in the normal cell.
Researchers will focus on childhood leukemias, brain tumors and tumors of bone, muscle and other connective tissues called sarcomas.
St. Jude will provide DNA from tumor and normal tissues of patients. Washington University's Genome Center will perform the whole genome sequencing. The research will be made public.
SOURCE: online.wsj
No comments:
Post a Comment